Ballast cleaning machine



DeC- 5, 1967 F.P1 AssER ETAL.

BALLAST CLEANING MACHINE Filed March ll, 1965 INVENTQRS FIM/VI P L/SSER 310 EEDT United States Patent O 3,356,157 BALLAST CLEANING MACHINE Franz Plasser and Josef Theurer, both of Johannesgasse 3, Vienna, Austria, and Johann Pichler, Unionstrasse 151, Linz, Austria Filed Mar. 11, 1965, Ser. No. 438,903 5 Claims. (Cl. 171-16) ABSTRACT 0F THE DISCLOSURE to support the ballast transported upwardly by the conveyor.

The present invention relates to improvements in machines for cleaning ballast of a railroad track bed.

More particularly, this invention deals with the type of ballast cleaning machine which comprises an implement, such as a screw, bucket or scraper conveyor, extending horizontally in the ballast under, and transversely of, the track to carry ballast continuously to a point laterally adjacent the ballast bed. In such machines, an upwardly inclined, endless conveyor is arranged for movement in an upright plane, which is usually perpendicular to the plane of the track and which passes through the point to which the horizontal implement carries the ballast. The endless conveyor has a lower end adjacent this point, an upper end and an upwardly inclined lower course extending from the lower to the upper end for transporting ballast from the lower conveyor end to the upper conveyor end.

In conventional machines of this general type, such as disclosed, for instance, in U.S. Patents Nos. 2,791,410l and 3,096,829, a ball-ast screening member, such as a vilbratory screen, is mounted adjacent the upper endless conveyor end for receiving the ballast therefrom. The ballast is separated on this screen from dirt and undesirable lines, whereupon the clean ballast is returned to the railroad track bed.

It is the primary object of the invention to build machines of this general type more simply and, therefore, more economically.

This and other objects and advantages are accomplished in accordance with the present invention by constructing the ballast transporting en-dless conveyor as an endless band carrying a plurality of ballast engaging elements, and placing a ballast screening member below the lower course of the endless conveyor so that the transported ballast is supported on the screening member while being pushed upwardly along the screening member by the ballast engaging elements moving with the endless band.

In this arrangement, the cleaning screen for the ballast forms a part of the ballast transport conveyor itself, i.e. it constitutes the bottom of the conveyor means, which not only reduces the number of machine parts but also minimizes the space requirements for the machine, making it considerably more compact.

Preferably, the ballast engaging elements contact the ballast screening member and at least the edge portion of these elements adjacent the screening member are of a yieldingly elastic material, such as rubber or a suitable plastic.

In one preferred embodiment, the ballast screening member constitutes the bottom of a ballast holding trough below the lower conveyor course and the yielding ballast engaging elements scrape along the screen bottom While moving from the lower to the upper end of the conveyor. This trough may form the lower part of a housing enclos ing the endless conveyor.

The ballast arrives at the upper endless conveyor end clean and ready for re-use and another conveyor may be arranged adjacent this upper end for receiving the clean ballast and transporting it toward the center of the track bed. To make it possible to dump the clean ballast from the other conveyor in different portions of the bed, the other conveyor is preferably mounted on a pivot for swinging about an upright axis which may be perpendicular to the plane of the track.

The above and other objects, advantages and features of this invention will become better understood in the following det-ailed description of one embodiment thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing wherein FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of the essential parts of the ballast cleaning machine, the endless conveyor and its housing being shown in vertical section; and

FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of FIG. 1, with the end conveyor removed to show the cleaning screen.

The description and drawing are confined to the improvement provided by this invention and to such parts as necessarily cooperate therewith and as may be required to complete an understanding thereof by those skilled in the art. Conventional and non-essential features, such as support carriage means as well as structural details of ballast conveyor and cleaning implements, a variety of which are well known in the art and whose specific nature are of no importance in respect of the invention, have been omitted or only schematically indicated.

Referring now to the drawing, a railroad track including rails 17, 17 supported on ties 18 is shown resting on a bed consisting of ballast placed on foundation 15. The downwardly slanting sides of the ballast bed are indicated at 16. Such railroad track beds must be cleaned from time to time to remove accumulated dirt, plants, crushed rocks and other fines.

For this purpose, the machine of the present invention is illustrated to include an implement for removing the dirty ballast from the bed. Any suitable ballast conveyor may be placed horizontally in the ballast under and transversely of the track, the implement shown herein being a scraper conveyor including an endless chain 1 with Scrapers 2 which engage and grip the ballast for continuously carrying the ballast to a point laterally adjacent the ballast bed (see arrows in FIG. 2). The chain conveyor is driven lby a suitable motor means 3 driving one of the pulleys carrying the endless chain.

An upwardly inclined housing 4 is arranged in an upright plane passing through the point laterally adjacent the ballast bed, to which implement 1 transports the dirty ballast, the lowest portion of the housing defining a chamber at this point, which receives the dirty ballast from the implement. An endless conveyor 5 is arranged in the housing 4 for movement in the upright plane, the lower end of the conveyor 5 being adjacent the ballast receiving chamber in the housing.

A ballast cleaning screening member 9 forms the bottom part of the housing below the lower course of endless conveyor 5, and the side walls of the housing form a ballast holding trough with the bottom screen of the housing.

The endless conveyor 5 includes an endless band carried by a pair of pulleys 6, 7 and carrying a series of spaced ballast engaging elements 8. The ballast engaging elements are preferably made of rubber or equivalent yieldingly elastic material and contact the screen 9 to transport the ballast from the lower conveyor end to the upper conveyor end in an upwardly inclined lower course extending from the lower to the upper end, as indicated )y arrows in FIG. l.

While the ballast is supported on the screen 9 in its ravel to hopper 10 mounted adjacent the upper end of vhe endless conveyor 5, the screen classies the ballast, nes and dirt being dropped by gravity to the screen alongside the bed, Ias indicated `by vertical arrows in FIG. l and the accumulation 14, and the cleaned ballast being dropped into hopper 10.

The open bottom of hopper 10 leads to another conveyor constituted by an endless conveyor band 11 which leads toward the center of the track bed from which dirty ballast has previously Ibeen removed. The conveyor 11 is mounted on a pivot 12 so that the conveyor may -be swung about an upright axis in a generally horizontal planeV to disgorge clean ballast over any desired point along an arc (see `arrow in FIG. 2) in the center of the bed.

While the lower part of housing 4 rests on the foundation 15, its upper part is supported thereon by means of a brace 19 resting on a ybase 13 arranged for gliding on the ground.

While the invention has been described in connection with one particular embodiment, it will be understood that many variations and modifications may occur to those skilled in the art, particularly after benefiting from the present teaching, without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention as dened by the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In :a machine for cleaning ballast of a railroad track bed, comprising (a) an implement extending horizontally in the ballast under and transversely of the track, said implement being capable of continuously carrying ballast to a point laterally adjacent therballast bed;

(b) an upwardly inclined endless conveyor arranged for movement in an upright plane laterally adjacent the bed and passing through said point, said conveyor having `a lower end adjacent said point, an upper end and an upwardly inclined lower course extending from the lower to the upper end,

(l) a plurality of ballast engaging elements carried yby said endless conveyor for transporting ballast from the lower conveyor end to the upper conveyor end; and

(c) a ballast holding trough below the lower conveyor course, said trough having a lbottom constituted by an upwardly inclined ballast screening member parallel to and extending below the lower conveyor course and supporting the ballast transported by the conveyor.

2. In the machine of claim 1, the ballast engaging elements contacting the ballast screening member and at least a portion of the ballast engaging elements adjacent said member being of a yielding material.

3. In the machine of claim 1, a housing enclosing the endless conveyor, the trough forming the lower part of said housing.

14. In the machine of claim 1, another conveyor arranged adjacent t'ne upper end of the endless conveyor for receiving the ballast transported thereto, said other conveyor leading toward the center of the track bed.

5. In the machine of claim 4, a pivot `mounting said other conveyor for swinging about an upright axis.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,013,735 9/1935 Protzeller 171-16 XR 2,592,328 4/1952 Perry et yal 171-120 XR 2,747,850 5/1956 Judd et al l7l-l6 XR 2,791,410 5/1957 Alleniann 17l-l6 3,054,459 9/1962 Scheuchzer 171-16 3,096,829 7/1963 Plasser et al. l7l--l6 ABRAHAM G. STONE, Primary Examiner.

ANTONIO F. GUIDA, Examiner. 

1. IN A MACHINE FOR CLEANING BALLAST OF A RAILROAD TRACK BED, COMPRISING (A) AN IMPLEMENT EXTENDING HORIZONTALLY IN THE BALLAST UNDER AND TRANSVERSELY OF THE TRACK, SAID IMPLEMENT BEING CAPABLE OF CONTINUOUSLY CARRYING BALLAST TO A POINT LATERALLY ADJACENT THE BALLAST BED; (B) AN UPWARDLY INCLINED ENDLESS CONVEYOR ARRANGED FOR MOVEMENT IN AN UPRIGHT PLANE LATERALLY ADJACENT THE BED AND PASSING THROUGH SAID POINT, SAID CONVEYOR HAVING A LOWER END ADJACENT SAID POINT, AN UPPER END AND AN UPWARDLY INCLINED LOWER COURSE EXTENDING FROM THE LOWER TO THE UPPER END, (1) A PLURALITY OF BALLAST ENGAGING ELEMENTS CAR- 